Category Archives: Reviews

Skirt-Crush

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Is it possible to fall in love with a skirt? How about three skirts? A couple of weeks ago I bought three new skirts from my new fav shop on Etsy, janelizabeths. It was my first time buying clothes on Etsy. Do you know why I bought these skirts? Well, I’ll give you two clues: one is on my right foot and one is on my left.

I bet you can't tell by the smile on my face in this photo, but I just stepped in dog poop. Yes, it really happened, and yes, my boots cried just a little.

And you can bet I’ll work 524 different ways to wear these things until the soles fall off. Did I mention I also bought a pair of skinny jeans just for these boots? Wait a minute, this post was supposed to be about my skirts, not my beloved boots! Stay on task, Kim!

Okay, so I bought this one (pictured), this one and this one. I do believe I am set for all of spring and summer. I love skirts – I love how pretty and feminine they make me feel – and I love how comfortable they are. I especially love these skirts for their length. I like skirts knee length or longer: not only because my thighs are a tiny bit jigga-flabby from a complete lack of exercise, but because every time my hem line gets anywhere close to mid thigh, I feel like I am mooning the universe. Look out world, I have to pick up my kid and you might see my butt! It doesn’t matter that it’s not really showing. As far as I am concerned, if I feel a breeze, the skirt is too short!

I also like janelizabeths’ skirts because they are 100% cotton. They hold their shape very nicely and they do not cling when I walk. I washed them in cold water on the gentle cycle and hung them up to dry by a sunny window, and they were dry in less than an hour!

I wore this outfit today and I’m pretty sure it felt about 10 degrees warmer, just because the skirt looks like spring decided to roll in early.

(ps, this is not a sponsored review or anything like that)

Bookmarked!

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I still love Fridays, despite the fact that they don’t have the same significance that they did when I was working full time. Still, I look forward to having Eric home all weekend and I usually have something fun planned for the weekend. Tomorrow I’ll be meeting with a senior (as in “student”) and her mom to talk about senior pictures, so that should be fun! Seniors are great because they always have so many creative ideas to incorporate their interests and personality into their photos. I’m also hoping to squeeze in a hair appointment…. I procrastinated about calling though, so we will see…

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I’ve found on the web this week. I am an avid Googler, and I love finding new blogs and shtuff.

Blogs:

A Bit of Sunshine
I am loving the photography on this blog – and all the creative ideas. Seriously, if I had the extra funds, the projects on my blog would be never-ending! But, I’ve decided to devote my extra income to paying off debt and saving up for gear upgrades.  In the meantime, I’ll drool over this blog. Hehe.

Kidnapped by Suburbia
Keli’s latest post about babymeat has me cracking up. She is an iHeartFaces contributor and her blog is lots of fun.

Recipe:

Easy Pork Ragu
I have made this twice and plan to make it again this week. It is seriously so good. Micah loves it, too. I buy the Bourbon Maple flavored pork loin at Walmart. I love the sweetness. I have been finding lots of favorite recipes on that site and it’s great because I don’t have to worry about Micah’s allergies.

Project:

DIY Show Off (craft room in a closet)
I love the DIY Show Off blog, and two different posts recently have shown what people can do with a closet…. and it’s amazing! One of these days I am going to turn one of my closets into a craft room.

And it’s not really a link, but I wanted to say that I have started using the Google Chrome browser this week. It took me a few days to get used to the different interface, but once I adjusted, I fell in love. It really is faster and more efficient. I don’t know… there are just so many little details that make it better. For example, I like how it puts downloads in a discreet bar at the bottom instead of popping up an annoying downloads window.

Hallmark Giveaway! (Contest Has Ended)

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Congratulations to Liz M who was comment #11! You are the winner of the $50 Hallmark Gift Card! Please send your mailing address to Kim @ Kimmama.com to collect your prize.

I love this one with the stork!
http://hallmark.com/Product/ProductDetails/1PGC30…

What can I say, I’m a sucker for all things retro! It’s supposed to be a pregnancy announcement but it would work just as well for a birth announcement, I think!

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So I have been talking about this giveaway for weeks now…… I have a good reason for postponing it. We were waiting for this little guy to be photo-ready so I could write a review on my pregnancy blog:

Doesn’t he look like a little doll? He belongs to a friend of mine. So sweet!

The Details:

So here is the scoop. I had the great experience of reviewing Hallmark’s new line of Birth Announcements available from Hallmark.com on the Families.com Pregnancy Blog. Hallmark gave me a $50 gift card to use for this review. They also gave me a promo code (BABY20) for 20% off birth announcements, which is good through December. But if that wasn’t awesome enough, they are also giving away another $50 gift card to one of my readers to use on Hallmark.com, including, but not excluded to personalized birth announcements, thank you cards, shower invitations, Christmas cards, etc. Read: YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE THE GIFT CARD ON BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS. :)

(Please keep in mind you must be a resident of the US to be eligible to win this giveaway.)

How to win:

There are several ways to enter this giveaway and you may complete one or all five of these entries. You must complete entry #1 before you do any of the others, otherwise you will be disqualified. For each entry, leave a separate comment telling me you have completed that entry. Each eligible comment will then be counted as one entry. Once the contest is closed, I will use Random.org to select the winning comment! I will announce the winner here on Kimmama.com and you will get one week to claim your prize.

Entry #1 (required): Subscribe to my blog by clicking “JOIN THIS SITE” in the Google Friend Connect module in the right sidebar of my page. (There is also a toolbar at the top of my page.)  Or, if you use an RSS feeder, click “SUBSCRIBE” at the top of my page. If you already follow/sub, simply leave a comment saying, “I’m already a follower” and indicate your username if it’s different from the one you use to comment.

Entry #2 (optional): Visit Hallmark.com/baby and pick out your favorite design. Then leave a comment here telling me which one you liked the best.

Entry #3 (optional): Follow me on Twitter. (Click the link at the top of my page.)

Entry #4 (optional): Blog about this giveaway and link to your post in your comment here.

Entry #5 (optional): Retweet about this giveaway. Make sure to include @Kizzaamm and a link to this post, otherwise I won’t be able to verify your entry. Short url: http://alturl.com/mos7q

Good luck!! I will leave the contest open until Tuesday night at 9pm (central time).

Product Reviews: Make ‘Em Pretty For Me!

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Once in a while I like to do product reviews for my pregnancy blog on Families.com. Today a beautiful package arrived and I got to taste test and review three flavors of Bellybar snack bars and chews.  You can check out the review here. What I can’t get over is the presentation. Very rarely do these products arrive in any anything more than bubble wrap, but check out this pretty pink packaging. I love it!

Review: Cheribundi Juice

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Recently I was contacted by the good folks at CherryPharm who have re-branded their tart cherry juice, now known as Cheribundi. Cheribundi is a tart cherry juice that comes in three varieties: Tru Cherry, Whey Cherry & Skinny Cherry. CherryPharm was kind enough to send me a free sample of each flavor to try and review here on this blog.

I'm so glad they gave me two bottles of "Tru Cherry." Definitely my favorite!

When I first read the e-mail asking if I would try Cheribundi, I thought, “what could be so special about cherry juice?” After all, I drink cherry juice all the time. I also drink apple juice and cranberry juice. It’s just juice, right? I was really surprised once I tasted it. It tasted nothing like the cherry juice I usually drink. It really packs a punch! There is a lot of flavor going on with this juice, which could actually deter some folks (such as my husband), but not me. It literally tastes like biting into a cherry pie. There is no other way to describe it.

I pulled Eric into the research lab – er, Kitchen – to taste all three varieties of Cheribundi. Here is what we each had to say:

Tru Cherry

Kim’s thoughts: “The original is my favorite. I am a cherry fan – and this tastes like drinking bottled cherries.”

Eric’s thoughts: “Too tart for me, then again, I wouldn’t eat plain tart cherries either.”

Micah’s thoughts: (We gave the little guy about 3 ounces diluted with 3 ounces of water. He sucked it down pretty quickly and then proceeded to show me his cup over and over, which of course means he liked it.)

Skinny Cherry

Kim’s thoughts: “I like the taste. I might dilute it with water, but then again, I usually dilute juice with water.”

Eric’s thoughts: “It’s not too tart, not too overwhelming. It’s good – tastes like cherry pie. I might drink it again. It would take me a whole day to drink this. It does stay true to the cherry flavor, but not everyone likes the tart taste of cherries.”

Whey Cherry

Kim’s thoughts: “This one is thicker than the other two. My first impression is that it tasted like thinned out pie filling. Is that a good thing? For sipping, yes. Thirst quenching? Not so much.”

Eric’s thoughts:*shakes head* “I don’t know if I like this.”

Overall Review: Skinny tastes very much like Tru. It’s slightly sweeter, but not by much. I’m not a fan of artificial sweeteners, even if they are “natural.” (If I am going to sweeten something, I prefer straight-up sugar.) Eric seemed to like Skinny Cherry the best, and it’s probably because it was a little less tart. In general, however, he is not really a fan of tart flavors.  (He once said “grapefruit tastes the way a skunk smells.” Harsh!) The Whey was a little too thick tasting for us. I liked the flavor of Tru the best, but we both agreed that because it’s so strong, it’s not the kind of beverage you slam back when you’re thirsty. I would sip this while reading a book or browsing the internet. It would taste really good with breakfast, too. Overall, I really like the flavor of the Tru Cherry Cheribundi and I’d probably get it again. The only downside: it runs about $2.50 per 8oz bottle, which means it would have to be a special treat in my household, not a daily thing.

For more information about Cheribundi, head over to their website here.